Every year in May there's a famous dandelion festival in Ottawa (Canada). People come from all over the world to see the millions of dandelions along the parkways and walkways throughout the city.
Dandelion lovers are very tolerant and generous with their praise of lesser flowers. Here's a small group of dandelion fans admiring some other kind of yellow flower.
The various governments in Ottawa take advantage of the dandelion festival to promote other festivals that are scheduled in early May. The tulip festival is a prime example. Being ecumenical chaps, the tourists who come to see the dandelions will naturally drop by to look at the tulip beds, if they have time. Tulips are pretty picky about where they grow so the flowers are clustered in only a few spots in the city. (Dandelions are everywhere.)
Today was a very nice day in Ottawa. Here's a group of flower lovers who are taking a brief look at the tulips around Dow's Lake. There were about 20,000 people there when we drove by on our way back from seeing the dandelions.
Some tulips are almost as pretty as dandelions ....
I said almost.
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Ottawa is not alone:
Breitenbach Dandelion Festival
Dover, Ohio, USA
Dandelion Festival
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, USA
Alaska Dandelion Festival
Seward, Alaska, USA
Vineland's dandelion festival to mark its 35th year
Vineland, New Jersey, USA
Waterloo Dandelion Festival
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Dandelion Festival
Pembroke, Ontario, Canada
and I'm sure this list is not complete
The top photo looks much like my lawn.
Even here in Australia we have them (I think, they look pretty much like the ones I've seen in both Canada and Norway).
Here most people with a garden try to get rid of them, but since I neither weed nor mow lawns, my garden got them with a vengeance. To great annoyance for all the neighbours.
Never understood that thing with mowing, neither snow (which we haven't here), nor lawns (which go brown in summer anyway).
Snow will melt, and grass grow again, so what a waste of time!
By the way, that white milk from dandelions is supposed to give you worts if you get it on your hands. Old wives' tale?
Funnily enough, there really should be a dandelion festival: after all, when they are pesticide-free, the leaves and roots have tremendous nutritional value, not to mention medicinal properties. It makes for some yummy salads (and no warts come from handling the "milk" inside the stem - just a rash for those who are allergic).
I have yet to try dandelion wine, but I'm told that it's another reason to celebrate that tenacious little weed...
Golden crowns with blades of green the dandelion reigns supreme:)
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